Hello to Nick Faldo

How's the lurking business?

Why oh why should I get on Boston.com's case. They didn't insult me. They did what was prudent in the cases of Dslack and me. They were concerned that we'd continue to promote our sites on their nickel. Moreover, I had extensive conversations with the people at Boston.com over the past few months—very cordial ones—and they've been put in a very tight spot by a bunch of people who are using their First Amendment rights as the ONLY justification for a deliberate attempt to disrupt a pretty nice thing we had going on BDC. If BDC is guilty of anything, perhaps it's being overly narrow in the interpretation of First Amendment rights; but they're running a business and have to be very careful about liability in this litigation-oriented society.

I realize the trolls just love to say that I can't abide anyone who doesn't agree with me (namely fans of other teams), but that's the exact opposite of the facts. I'd welcome some healthy debate on this site as long as it's civil and doesn't detract from the HUGELY convivial spirit we already have going here. (Just read the threads, and you'll understand what I mean.) What I can't abide is willful attempts to ruin something that others worked hard to build up. What I can't abide is a gratuitously disengenous spirit.

I hope the people on Dslack's site are enjoying their newfound freedom as much as we are here. I just posted that, in 4+ years of posting on BDC, I've never seen such a profusion of high-quality posting as is on this board already. And that' not just some public relations spiff. Just read the threads. I'm bowled over.

Take care,

Sam

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the warm welcome. I kind of got most of what I wanted to off my chest on the other thread, so this should be a shorter post. Yet, I can be quite longwinded, ironically or hypocritically what I said about you a month or two ago.

I like the feeling of family that you guys convey. Sometimes family members fight. But those should never last too long, and nearly every time, no one says anything too bad to burn the bridge.

Maybe lurking was the wrong word to use. I meant that I am reading and enjoying this forum. Also, thanks for the thirty days and a further chance to show that we are ultimately on the same team.

Now watch as I write something to throw dslack under the bus.

Let's face it. Some of us love posting on forums. We love the sound of our own voices. We love the challenge of coming up with something good. We enjoy making others feel good about themselves despite differences. We don't want to come across as snobs or know-it-alls. This has been said before plenty of times on the net, but it is very easy for misunderstandings to occur because we can't see facial expressions. We each interpret things through our own world views, etc..

I like dslack's place because there really isn't a lot of pressure to pound out a masterpiece. You've set the bar very high for yourself, so good luck with that.

It's only natural that Celtic fans would like to emulate the family feeling of warmth that obviously the Celtics have had a long tradition of providing. That's what bummed me out a lot about Starbury attacking The Truth. I think Stephon should have become Rondo's back up. He would've been perfect. His confidence would have returned. But his ego got in the way. On the flip side, I am very excited to watch Rasheed this year. He appears to have overnight become part of Celtic lore before even playing one regular season game. It appears that Paul has even implied he is willing to take less money to keep the team together for many more years. It also doesn't hurt that KG seems to be well on his way back to a full or nearly full recovery.

The great thing about your place is that it will be easier to find out right away the latest on the Celtics and the NBA. I am flabbergasted that the officials have changed the travelling rule. I am even more disgusted that they have been calling it the wrong way even before admitting to it. No one should take more than a step and a half. Rondo shouldn't be allowed to palm the ball. I guess I am a purist. In baseball, it ticks me off when the second basemen get the out calls on the double plays, when it's clear they took their foot off the base. I think the biggest problem with the NBA, may be that some of the refs possibly have ties to gambling. I'm not crazy enough to think David Stern fixes games or the lottery like a few others tend to do, but I'm not so naive to dismiss the chance that human nature and greed might be influencing some refs. The NFL seems to be the best league at making sure their refs are held to the highest standards. Most know about the point shaving scandal at BC. I better stop.

Let me finish by clarifying again that I'm not a lurker. I'm a reader.

You've done a great job putting this website together. I look forward to yours and others' longwinded posts. Basketball has always been my favorite sport, to play and watch. I actually enjoyed some of the WNBA games and hope that league doesn't fold. Those ladies have clearly got game.

Nic

Check my reply to you on the "to do" list thread.

beat

Nick,

I only used the "lurker" term because (1) you did and (2) it seems to be an accepted, widely used term for readers. But I agree with you that I like "readers" better.

I mentioned niches earlier. It appears there are a lot of people on this site who have great senses of humor but are very serious about basketball. I wouldn't presume to guess about the profile of fans on Dslack's site, but I bet it's somewhat different. That's not to cast aspersions on anyone. Different strokes, etc.

Close to a week before announcing this site, I asked several long-time BDC posters to visit me on the board and fool around with it. There was lots of joking around, and I actually hated to erase some of the threads because they were classics. But the seriousness and energy with which these guys went about testing the site led me to believe that, if those traits could be brought to bear on basketball discussions, we'd have something really special.

In fact, it was that sheer volume of quality input that first convinced me I would have to put in a LOAD of time to administer this mustang. And it's already proving to be true, possibly even before we've hit our stride in acquiring posters.

It's a 16-hour work day for me right now (including, of course, my sometimes-lengthy posts that I hope add some value), and I don't begrudge it a bit. And it's already cutting in to the business I've built up for 41 years. So I'd be excited about debating anyone on the decision to try to recoup just a portion of the lost income; and, believe me, it will have nothing—NOTHING—to do with a "profit" on the tradeoff. It will be a definite loss, which is fine. I'm just trying to reduce the amount of loss and to provide heavy duty quality in the bargain.

Anyway, it's good to have you posting here. If you feel like it, please send our best regards to the folks at Dslack's forum, obviously including the professor himself.

Sam

BeatLA sent me a pm asking me to check out his post on the other thread. This is what I just wrote back to him. I admit I can be a jerk at times, but sometimes I am able to make amends. Here's a toast to this board, and may the good vibes continue.

Hi Beat, yes, I saw it, and I'll try to make a quick reply acknowledging it for the public. I agree with your brutal honesty, that when we say something, there's no going back. Yet, then it comes to the point of whether people are going to agree to disagree or let things escalate. A big reason I signed up here was to fix the bad feelings or at least let you know I wasn't going to keep at you. I think a big part of the problem was the atmosphere is so bad at BDC, that it becomes more difficult for people to agree to disagree. I didn't realize greenkiller was such a mean guy. I fell for his Eddie Haskell routine. It looks like things have turned out for the best. The BDC Celtics forum is clearly decimated, and the Globe forum staff has no one to blame but themselves. Take care and good-luck with your life and enjoy the season. (edited a typo)

Sam, someone at the old site should ask one of the Boston Globe attorneys whether people have 1st amendment rights on a site that has nothing to do with the gov't.

Your converstions with the Globe people may have been cordial but I thought that the site had degenerated into a poorly run and arbitrary mish-mash. I mean, the banning of some long time contributors while letting the trolls run wild?

It gave me the distinct impression that the moderators had no idea what was going on and it had nothing to do with any respect for the spirit of the 1st Amendment.

But, hey, that's why I came over here.

Carp, BDC is a privately owned paper/website. As such, private citizens have no First Amendment protections (Freedom of Speech). There is no "state action" and/or federal government involvement. The people would only retain those rights if the site was a government owned site (public forum). The only constitutional rights that someone would have with respect to being able to post on the site would be if a poster can prove that BDC or the New York Times discriminated against them based racial makeup ('Thirteenth Amendment).....

Exactly David.

If BDC moderators were allowing the trolls to vomit over a once great forum in the name of 1st Amendment considerations they were either incompetent, disingenous, or both.

This is especially true becaue they actually banned a couple of the old regulars while doing nothing when the trolls came back under different handles.

The internet is being treated like a wild, wild, west, with the webmasters having ultimate say on who can post what. Unless someone gets libeled or cyberstalked, there's not much anyone can do. Plus, I'm not sure if the few laws apply if we are using anonymous usernames. There are a few cases going on. One blogger got sued recently. There are some methods of recourse. But real names would probably need to be in the equation, and even then, it would take a lot of money to pursue it. I think the law doesn't really care too much about blogging. Unless it's one of those teenager involved and other cyberstalking cases that have surfaced. The best thing is to probably just leave any internet situation that causes emotional duress. Or if damages can be shown, one can take it to civil court. I'm not a lawyer, but I played one on television...... Just kidding.

I agree Carp. BDC sent us a pretty loud message. Their tolerance of the disruptive conduct makes no sense. They let two or three "city of Boston" and Celtic haters destroy what the good Celtic fan regulars took 4 years to build. Talk about justice, or lack of justice!!!

I'm really hoping that Sam's venture is a great success.

David

Deleted by David

I've just deleted my first three posts. This is going to be a congenial board. I, and my appointees, will take care of any monitoring that needs to be done.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Sam